Latest War News.

Northland Age, Volume 1, Issue 18, 13 December 1904, Page 2

Latest War News.

The Battle of Metre Hill. , Fearful Carnage. LONDON, Monday. Russian correspondents give appalling accounts of the hardships endured by the soldiers. Their clothes have become mere rags; they are without boots, bruised and frost-bitten; their feet are bound with skin and cloth, tied with string. After battles, according to these accounts, the soldiers strip the Japanese for clothing and hoots. The Japanese troops taunt the Russians as “ the ragged men.”

The Russians did not take advantage of the armistice they asked for to remove their dead from Metre Hill. Prisoners taken report that the commanders of the forts, fearing desertions if their men saw the scene of carnage on the hill, overruled tho wish of Stoessel that the dead should be brought into Port Arthur. The prisoners say the garrison is short of rations. The bread is now made of flour, mixed with coarser grain. Dysentery and typhoid are prevalent owing to contamination of the water. Fresh vegetables are not obtainable, and the stock of tinned meat, was finished a month ago. The officers dine off horseflesh twioe a week. The Japanese coastal defence vessel Saiyen, 2481 tons, is now reported to have struck a mine on November 3rd, and sunk. The majority of her crew were rescued. The Saiyen was engaged in the blockade of Port Arthur at the time of the disaster. Details of the battle of Metre Hill show that the Japanese delivered the assault with terrible fury. The defenoe was stubborn and tenacious. When the Japanese parallels had got to within little more than thirty yards of the trenches, tho whole Japanese regiment charged. Hundreds were at once shot down, but the trenches were carried by sheer weight of numbers. The use of the bayonet was impossible, and the flaming pits for a long time barred the further progress of the Japanese. The trenches were captured and re-captured repeatedly, and became veritable shambles. The ramparts were black with dead. Finally the Japanese gained a foothold in the interior of Hie fort. There was then much fighting at close quarters with bayonets, hand grenades clubbed rifles, and even stones. The Japanese were again repulsed, but they stubbornly persisted even when them columns had lost half their strength.